John R. DelaneyViewSonic VT2730The Viewsonic VT2730 is a good choice for any environment with space constraints, as long as you're willing to make a few sacrifices. This 27-inch HDTV offers good color quality and wide viewing angles, but little in the way of extra features.

The Viewsonic VT2730 is a good choice for any environment with space constraints, as long as you're willing to make a few sacrifices. This 27-inch HDTV offers good color quality and wide viewing angles, but little in the way of extra features.

Let's face it, not everyone has the need for a massive HDTV. If you live in a dorm room or a small studio apartment, chances are you don't have the room for one anyway, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy full high-definition video. The 27-inch Viewsonic VT2730 ($499 list) offers full 1080p HD in an attractive space-saving cabinet. Image quality is a mixed bag, however. While the set delivers a sharp picture that maintains good color fidelity from any angle, its 60Hz refresh rate means it suffers from some minor motion errors. Also, this model lacks a few key image adjustment settings and the Web connectivity you'll find on many of the latest HDTVs.

Design and Features
With its shiny piano black cabinet and matching base, the VT2730 maintains a sleek, minimal look. The 1920-by-1080-pixel panel is framed by thin side and top bezels and a slightly wider, tapered bottom bezel that masks two speakers. The base is fairly sturdy and allows you to tilt the screen backward 20 degrees but not forward. It also lacks swivel capabilities. The 5-watt speakers are front firing and are quite loud but are heavy on the treble. The SRS surround effect is a bit hollow as well. That said, the set has no trouble filling a small room with distortion-free sound.

On the right side of the cabinet are a power switch and six buttons for changing channels, adjusting the volume, accessing the on-screen menu system, and selecting an input source. On the left side is a sparse collection of ports, including an HDMI port, a headphone jack and an optical audio output. For some reason, the Viewsonic engineers decided to mount the lone USB port on the rear of the cabinet, making it virtually impossible to access when the set is mounted on a wall. Whereas larger HDTVs such as Mitsubishi's Unisen LT46249 ($2,599.99 direct, ) and the LG 42SL90 ($1,999.99 direct, ) offer four HDMI ports, the VT2730 has only three, but that's still one more than the comparably sized Westinghouse SK-26H640G ($349 direct, ). The two additional HDMI ports are located around back where they are joined by composite and component audio and video inputs, an S-Video input, PC video (VGA) and audio inputs, and a TV cable/antenna coaxial connector. Because this set does not have Ethernet capabilities it's devoid of Web applications, which are quickly becoming standard issue on the current crop of HDTVs like the Sony Bravia KDL-52NX800 ($2,799.99 direct, ) and the Toshiba 55UX600U ($2,399.99 direct, ).

The VT2730 comes with a generic-looking 35-button remote. None of the buttons are illuminated, nor are there any player controls, such as those found on the remotes that come with most HDTVs, including Panasonic's TC-P46G10 ($1,499.95 direct, ). Still, each button is clearly labeled. Using either the remote or the function buttons on the TV itself you can make the usual brightness, contrast, sharpness, and color temperature adjustments, but this set lacks a backlight level control.

Performance
After performing a basic darkroom calibration using images from the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) diagnostic utility, the VT2730 produced a contrast ratio of 600:1, as measured by a Konica-Minolta CS-200 spectroradiometer. That's half of its advertised (typical) ratio of 1200:1 but not all that unusual for a small, lower-end HDTV. The 26-inch Westinghouse SK-26H640G was slightly better at 702:1. Colors were accurate for the most part, although greens were slightly saturated. Fortunately, there was no evidence of tinting on my grayscale and color scale tests, and flesh tones appeared natural. Viewing angles were as advertised (170 degrees horizontal, 160 degrees vertical) with very little color shifting or loss of detail. HD image quality was highly detailed but somewhat noisy. Scenes from Mission: Impossible II on Blu-ray revealed moderate background noise, particularly during the rock-climbing scene where the background is reddish mountains. The VT2730 didn't fail the HD HQV noise test, but its performance was merely average. It passed the de-interlacing (jaggies) test handily, however. Standard definition quality was also plagued by intermittent background noise, and the HQV waving flag test showed a slight case of the jaggies, this is because the VT2730's panel has a 60Hz refresh rate. If the set were armed with 120Hz technology, the flaw would likely be negligible. Still, because the screen is on the small side, the errors are not as evident as they would be on larger panel.

The CCFL-backlit VT2730 averaged 55 watts of power while displaying HD content via a Blu-ray player, which is quite good for a panel of this size and works out to an operating cost of just $0.95 per month (based on five hours of use at the 2008 national average of 11.35 cents per kWh). By way of comparison, the 26-inch Westinghouse SK-26H640G, which also uses CCFL backlighting, averaged 67 watts. The VT2730 comes with a standard one-year warranty covering parts, labor, and backlighting.

The ViewSonic VT2730 may not be the best performer, and it does come up a bit short in the features department. Even so, it offers good color and viewing-angle performance, and it can be used in spaces that typically can't accommodate larger HDTVs, such as bedrooms, kitchens, or dorm rooms. If you want to save a few bucks, the 26-inch Westinghouse SK-26H640G rings up at just $350, but you'll be sacrificing color accuracy and a bit of screen real estate as well.

ViewSonic VT2730

Bottom Line: The Viewsonic VT2730 is a good choice for any environment with space constraints, as long as you're willing to make a few sacrifices. This 27-inch HDTV offers good color quality and wide viewing angles, but little in the way of extra features.

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About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

ViewSonic VT2730

ViewSonic VT2730

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